Posted on 12/22/2004 9:32:13 AM PST by georgiadevildog
I am starting a grammar thread at the behest of Xenalyte and TheMom. Post your most irritating pet peeves of grammar or usage here.
All y'all = everybody
ping!
I believe that should be, "Homophonophobic". :-)
Aaaarrgghh! Annoying to... whom?
Did you mean "...is annoying too"? ..as in, "also"?
I'm a hopeless homophonophobic...
I used to think I was the only one, but now I know I am not alone. Thanks, FReepers. What a relief to know that there are still some people out there who care about grammar!
I care about my grammar. She may have died earlier this year, but I still care about her.
Irregardless.
Put me on the list, please? Thanks!
My daughter was in a spelling bee once where the announcer had a Texas accent AND she had a lisp. That was hard!! (The adults hurt themselves trying not to laugh out loud).
IMHO, you won your argument.
Between you and I, grammar makes me nauseous
One of the advantages of being in the old fogy club is that we’re expected to fulminate against the modern age. Not only is it our right, it’s our responsibility to point out at every opportunity how things have degenerated since we were callow youths.
This week’s rant is about how what used to be termed Standard English has deteriorated. In the second (1962) edition of “The Perrin-Smith Handbook of Current English,” Standard English is defined as “the English that is used by educated people in carrying on the affairs of business, science, literature, government — the effective language of public affairs in general.”
The problem is that today’s educated people aren’t very good at grammar. Years ago I received correspondence from a man identifying himself as a “collage graduate.” He ended his letter by demanding to know “how dam dom do you think I am?” I knew precisely how dam dom he was.
Regularly on TV and radio you hear people, often commentators and politicians, speak of something as “between you and I.” These educated folks apparently were trained to believe that if a phrase sounds artificial and pretentious, it must be good English. Every time I hear “between you and I” alarm bells go off in my head. Not that that’s all bad. It’s a pleasant change from those darn voices usually chattering at me.
“Infer” is now often used interchangeably with “imply.” There once was a considerable difference, with the speaker or writer implying and the listener or reader inferring.
One grammatical blunder particularly turns my stomach. When people claim that someone or something makes them nauseous, I want to soak them with industrial strength Pepto. The perpetrators may well be nauseous, which means disgusting. That has nothing to do, however, with the cause of their discomfort, which made them nauseated.
The battle between “fewer” and “less” has pretty much been decided. As you other fogies may recall, “fewer” applied to numbers while “less” applied to quantity. That’s no longer true, and the change may partially be attributable to advertising. There’s no shortage of tasty snacks that now boast “less calories.” This may be a trend and one day the same items may claim they have “fewer fat.” Then there are the ubiquitous “15 items or less” signs in checkout lanes.
We have folks who appraise their boss of a situation. Apprising would have been just as good. Medicine may affect our concentration, but for others it effects their concentration. Some places accept personal checks while other spots except them.
There must be a place that provides specialized training in grammar to waitresses. I mean waitpersons. Or perhaps servers. Invariably, they’ll approach a table and ask something along the lines of, “Are you guys ready to order?” It makes no difference how many females are in the party. Over and over, the word “guys” is used. Do you think the EEOC would send me some cash for bringing this rampant sexism to its attention?
Sloppy English may be a consequence of the do your own thing, make your own rules, don’t be judgmental mindset of the boomer generation. For decades now, questioning authority has been fashionable. Why be bound by silly old conventions?
Perhaps there’s no need to go to the extent of French Jesuit grammarian Dominique Bouhours. When his death was imminent (or is that eminent?), he said, “I am about to — or I am going to — die; either expression is used.”
On the other hand, individuals are often judged by the way they speak and write. Thomas Mann observed: “Speech is civilization itself.”
By the way (a tiresomely overused expression if I’ve ever heard of one), before readers jump all over me for my own grammatical transgressions, keep in mind that I shouldn’t be too stringently bound by rules of grammar. This is known as artistic license. Please keep the snickering here to a minimum.
Kindly note also that while I abhor poor English, I don’t pretend to be an expert. I ain’t that dom.
Word does my Spell Check; Eaker does my Grammar Check.
An excellent article. I learned one thing in particular. The nauseous / nauseated debate is now settled in my mind. I have actually been taught the opposite. Maybe a little research is in order. Thanks for the column.
I hate "I could of done more." Obviously, it sounds like that, but it is spelled "I could have done more."
Also, when someone says "I could care less," they are conveying exactly the opposite of what they mean. It is "I couldn't care less," as in the amount of my caring is zero, I don't care. But saying "I could care less" means the amount of caring is greater than zero, I do care.
Finally, one must use a space after a comma or period. Sentences like this one,which ignore this rule,make the speaker(or poster)look stupid.Very stupid.
Little known fact: media and data are plural.
These data are misleading. The media are biased.
I'm getting tired of seeing sentences that begin with the word "AND".
Read the WSJ sometimes. I think they have a rule to start at least two sentences per article with the word "and".
Bull. It's not lost unless we surrender. Fewer refers to items that can be counted, less refers to things which must be measured. Fewer cups of coffee, less coffee.
Dan
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